Fall and I will catch you
by zeke1
Summary: Castiel has Doubts about his orders. And now, he is also experiencing Distraction. Will he listen to Dean, and follow his heart, or keep looking to the heavens for a Revelation that just isn’t coming? will be rated M in later chapters Castiel/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Fall and I will catch you**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or any of the characters in it (mores the pity!) and I don't make any money from writing this._

_Summary: Castiel has Doubts about his orders. And now, he is also experiencing Distraction. Will he listen to Dean, and follow his heart, or keep looking to the heavens for a Revelation that just isn't coming? Rated M for later chapters ** I promise there will be action ;-) **_

The angel had been ordered to Earth to aid a member of his garrison in battle. His brother was losing the fight, and time was of the essence. If this seal was lost, Lilith would be yet another step closer to freeing Lucifer. So Castiel was flying; skipping across land and sea in his true form and invisible to the human eye. All of his concentration was focused on simply getting to his destination before it was too late, and although the emotions of the humans below washed over him as he flew, they were fleeting and unimportant in the face of what was at stake.

An angel should never falter in its duty. But as Castiel passed over a particular house in an unfamiliar city, for a split second he felt the fear of a single human soul overwhelm all of the other emotions that had washed over him. She was afraid for her life; trapped in her own home and at the mercy of a stranger who wanted to take pleasure in her fear. And both the woman and the stranger knew that she was not going to escape.

No humans could sense the woman's fear, and so none of them were coming to save her. Even knowing this, within that first split second of sensing the fear, Castiel had passed the house and continued on his journey. But even after the woman's fear had faded from his awareness, a part of him was still stinging, regardless of how many times he had reminded himself that _we do not interfere._

He arrived to a scene of carnage. Just moments ago, a building had stood here. Hard to believe from the mess of rubble, earth and blood that remained. The stench of sulphur permeated the air and the moonlight shone starkly onto a mound of bricks ahead. His brother lay there, body broken and eyes devoid of the light they once held. Castiel dropped to his knees by his fallen brother and bowed his head. Since the first seal had broken, he had seen several of his brethren lost in battle, and the sorrow that all the angels felt at the passing of one of their own had never lessened. But this angel had fought by Castiel's side in countless battles. He had known him for an eternity, and this angel's death was simply unimaginable.

Even knowing that his fellow angel had long since vacated this human vessel, Castiel felt reluctant to leave. He gently arranged the body into a respectful position before closing the eyes of the fallen man, and then looked to the heavens for guidance on what he should now do. He waited for several minutes, but no orders came to him. This had never happened before, and after everything that had happened this night, Castiel was shaken. He did not know what to do, and so he started to retrace his steps in order to return to heaven and give his report.

The woman. Her fear had lessened, but in its place the woman's heart was filled with sorrow and despair. Her emotions were painful enough to jolt Castiel out of his flight. He glided into the house, remaining unseen so that he did not alarm the human as he entered.

She was laid on her side, curled tightly into a ball with her hands clutching her knees until her knuckles were white. Her naked body was pale, and the bruises and bloodstains that covered it were painfully apparent. The bed sheets were tangled and soiled, and even to the innocent eyes of an angel, it was obvious what had happened to her at the hands of the stranger.

Castiel did not need to see the sobs racking the woman's body to know what she was feeling. The emotions that had been distant during his flight now poured out her and filled him with another sensation he had never experienced before. Her sorrow was as painful as his own. Her body was bruised and violated, and she felt such despair that she would have gladly welcomed death, even at the hands of the stranger. And _he_ could have stopped it.

No. _We do not interfere, _Castiel repeated to himself, but even so he found himself gliding closer to the woman. He knew that he had done the right thing. It was not an angel's place to question the will of the Lord. But still, this woman was lying in the dark, beaten and alone, and Castiel could have stopped it. Somehow in this moment, the will of the Lord seemed to lack its usual level of comfort.

He needed to leave. There was nothing that he could do here and no doubt there would be work for him once he returned to heaven. But even as he turned to depart, the new sensation stabbed at him once again. It was alarming – he should not be experiencing human emotions – but the feeling was so strong that he could not ignore it.

Castiel settled himself next to the woman, leaned closer so that he could see her tear stained face. Her dark eyes were filled with pain and her chestnut hair was matted and wet from her tears. Still invisible to the human eye, he reached out a hand that hovered somewhere between his true form and the mortal vessel that he often occupied, and rested it against her cheek. _"You will find the strength to survive this," _he murmured, while allowing a calming warmth to flow into the human beside him.

She gasped; she had not felt the angel's hand touch her or heard his words on a conscious level, but the warmth that filled her body helped to still her tears. After a few moments, she sat up on the side of the bed and slid her feet to the floor. "You're alive," she whispered to herself, her voice small and wavering. Gathering her strength, she repeated the words with more conviction as she stood and made her way to her telephone. "You're alive. That's a start."

Author's note: Ok, so this chapter was a little short so I'm sorry about that. But I wanted to get something published straight away to keep my motivation up. Poor Castiel and his first experience of Guilt!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I still don't own Supernatural or the characters in it. I also don't own any rights to Intervention by Arcade Fire, and I make no profit from this writing.

The bar was not the quietest or most suitable of places for a meeting, but Castiel did not have time to wait for the Winchesters to get back to their motel room. When he entered the room, he found the two brothers stood by the bar, beer bottles in hand and Dean discussing the various merits of something called Metallica. Dean had his back to the door of the bar, and did not see Castiel enter.

"I'm telling you man," Dean said to Sam, whilst inclining his beer bottle towards the younger man as if to help prove his point. "It's classic rock all the way. If I ever see that iPod of yours in my baby again, I won't be responsible for whatever gets ganked!" It was, unfortunately, karaoke night in the bar, and most of the 'talent' had been cringe worthy at best. He paused as he watched the next person step onto the stage; a young girl, maybe in her mid twenties, with wavy blond hair and an athletic body. At least this girl would be good to look at while she assaulted their ears.

"Anyway," he went on. "How about we grab a burger and head on out to a different bar? You know, a bar where the music is fully pre-recorded?" He winced at the cute girl's too loud and too drunk rendition of "You're so vain", stopped speaking as he realised that he did not have his brother's full attention. He turned around as Sam nodded in the direction of the door.

"Well," Dean said, keeping his voice low so only Sam could hear. "He didn't wait to surprise us at the motel. Must be important."

"And he didn't bring our favourite human hating friend," Sam added, and Dean nodded in acknowledgement as Castiel walked towards them.

"Dean, Sam," Castiel said, nodding at the brothers as he stopped at the bar beside them.

"Cas," Dean said, as Sam nodded towards the angel. "How's things going in God's back yard?" The girl's song was coming to an end, and as if in defiance, she had started singing even louder. He had to raise his voice in order to be heard.

"Not well," Castiel replied, also having to raise his voice over the noise in the bar. The song finally finished, and the girl's friends fished her back off the stage. The guy running the karaoke told the bar that there was time for one last song. Joy. The drunk girl was trying to convince one of her quieter friends to sing next. "I'm afraid we need a favour from you. It's very important."

Sam sighed. The angels weren't his biggest fans, and the feeling was starting to become mutual. "When don't you need our help, Cas? Maybe you should just hang up your wings and let us do **all** the work!"

Castiel narrowed his eyes towards Sam in response. "Be my guest," he replied, his jaw clenching as he paused for a moment. "I hear hell is very cosy this time of year."

The quieter girl had been persuaded up on to the stage and was currently choosing the song that she wanted to sing. Dean figured it would probably be best to get out of the bar before his eardrums were assaulted yet again. "Quit your bitching, both of you," he growled, then said to his brother "let's at least find out what he wants before we tell him where to shove it."

As Castiel started to explain how Lilith intended to break another seal, Dean was amused to hear what sounded like church organ music coming from the stage. Castiel didn't seem to notice, until the girl started to sing. After a few moments, Dean noticed that Castiel had trailed off, in the middle of his sentence, and was staring wide-eyed at the girl on stage.

"Castiel?" Sam said, a quizzical look on his face as he tried to catch the angel's attention by waving, and failed. Dean followed Castiel's gaze to the girl on the stage. She was curvier than her friend, and seemed a lot more talented at singing as well. She had seemed nervous at first, but was now getting into it and her voice was strong and clear as she sang.

Castiel was lost. He knew that he had an important mission to pass on to the Winchesters, but he could not think as the words the girl was singing washed over him:

"Working for the church while your family dies," she sang. "You take what they give you and you keep it inside. Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home. Hear the soldier groan, 'We'll go at it alone."'

"Cas?" Dean echoed his brother as he also tried to catch the angel's attention, and also failed. He followed Castiel's gaze again and looked over at the girl. She was certainly good looking to him, but as far as Dean knew, angels didn't scope out girls in bars. Was it the words of the song that were getting to him?

With what appeared to be a Herculean effort, Castiel tore his eyes away from the singing girl and focused on the Winchesters once again. However, his gaze lacked the single-minded focus that it usually had.

"You okay man?" Dean asked, and Castiel narrowed his eyes in response.

"I'm fine," the angel replied, his voice clipped, and the two brothers exchanged a sidelong glance. Ignoring the humans, Castiel gave the orders that he had been sent to deliver. "This town has a central library with an occult section-"

"Wait," Sam interrupted. "I went to the library this morning, and there's definitely no occult section."

"It's in the basement," Castiel went on, ignoring Sam again. "Closed to the public. There is a book there that Lilith wants. We need you to destroy it before it falls into the wrong hands."

"What's so bad about this book that it needs to go?" Dean asked, and Castiel frowned.

"It contains spells for binding an angel to the user's will," he replied. "If it got into the hands of a demon, I do not like to think what would happen."

"So why don't the angels just swoop in there and take it?" Dean asked. Castiel looked uneasy.

"It has a spell already on it?" Sam asked, and the angel nodded.

"We can't go near it," Castiel said. "So I'm afraid it's up to you. And the demons are on their way. The book has to be destroyed immediately."

"Is this a 'once you've finished your beer' kind of immediately?" Dean asked, hopeful to be able to finish his drink, but the look on Castiel's face did not bode well. "Guess not," he grumbled, turning away from the angel and slamming his bottle onto the bar just as the girl's song came to an end. "Are you staying to watch more of the show?" he asked, wondering if Castiel had plans for the girl as well as them. But when he turned back to the place where the angel had been standing, he had already disappeared from sight.

***

Castiel sat on a bench in one of the City parks that he often visited when he needed to think. He had shown – _weakness – _in front of the Winchesters of all people. He needed them to be strong, and _this_ was the example that he set them. It was unacceptable.

Contrary to the brothers' belief, it had not been the song that had disconcerted him, although the lyrics had stuck in his mind somewhat. It was those big, dark eyes and the chestnut hair; smooth and shiny this time instead of matted and messy, but the same hair nevertheless. Since the moment he first laid eyes on this girl, not a second went by when he did not wonder if he had done the right thing. If she would ever recover from what he had allowed to happen to her.

_Wonder? Call it like it really is,_ Castiel though to himself. _Doubt._

No. He did not doubt. Doubting was for the Fallen, for _her._ And he was not like her, would _never_ be like her.

But he still found himself wondering how long it had been. Time sometimes moved unexpectedly between heaven and earth. He was – glad – to see that the woman seemed to have recovered. She had friends, and that was what humans did; make friends, find a mate, have a family. Fall in love. All things that were quite alien to him.

She was unimportant. So why could he not stop thinking about her?

Author's note: It's going somewhere. Honestly. Stay tuned for more angel angst; will Cas ever pluck up the courage to speak to her?


	3. Chapter 3

** Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and/or added my story to their faves or update lists. I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint!

Spoiler warning: only very minor spoilers for episode 4x07, "It's the great pumpkin, Sam Winchester."

Oh, and also I guess I should say: angst warning. Seriously. But on with Chapter 3!

Castiel found the Winchesters in the bar again the following night. They had made plans to investigate an unusual death in the area before moving on upstate in a few days time. The patrons were singing again, and for some reason the brothers had chosen to sit at a table near the stage rather than their usual spot near the bar.

He frowned at the noise coming from the stage, and Dean smirked as if he thought he had his own private joke. If he thought Castiel would be distracted again tonight, he would be disappointed.

"The book?" Castiel said questioningly, not bothering with pleasantries before launching into business. Dean cleared his throat and attempted to wipe the smile off his face.

"Done," Dean replied. "Finito, gone, destroyed. Ain't that right, Sammy?" Hearing his name, Sam looked up from his bottle with a slightly alarmed expression.

"What?" he said quickly. He seemed slightly distracted.

Dean looked at his brother in a quizzical fashion before turning back towards Castiel, and rolled his eyes. "That's my kid brother for you. You know he was going to law school, can you believe it?"

"We got rid of it," Sam finally piped up. "That's what you asked us to do, isn't it? So why wouldn't we get rid of it?"

Dean gave his brother another look, and Castiel followed his gaze. The younger man was acting strangely, as if he were hiding something. The silence seemed to drag; one person's song had ended and another person was taking the stage, looking through the songs to find what they wanted.

"Good," Castiel said, breaking the awkward silence between the two Winchesters. "Because I hope I do not need to remind you of the severity of the situation. If that book was to get into Lilith's hands – into any demons hands…"

Forgetting what he had been saying, Castiel found himself staring open-mouthed at the stage once again. She was back, with a different song but with the same strong, clear voice that cut through his concentration and distracted him so easily.

It was not the song that distracted him, he knew that. It was this new emotion, this _guilt_ that he experienced every time he looked at her that caused him to falter. But seeing her like this; so happy compared to the memory of when he first saw her, fascinated him as well.

"Cas?" Dean's voice finally brought the angel back to the present, and Castiel realised that Dean had repeated his name several times before he had responded. "You ok? You uh, want some time alone? Or do you need some of our help with her, too?"

The smirk was back on the Winchester's face, and Castiel turned and fixed the human with his most thoroughly righteous glare. The smirk disappeared as Castiel growled between clenched teeth: "Remember your place, Dean. Remember where you were when I found you. Where you can go straight back to just as soon as we don't have a use for you anymore." He paused for a moment when it was apparent that his words had the desired effect of shutting the human up, and Castiel unclenched his jaw. "If the book is destroyed then we're done here. I will contact you if we need you again. And if I were you, I would pray that we **do** still need you."

Rather than doing his usual disappearing act, Castiel stalked out of the door and into the night. As the angel left, Dean released a breath that he had not realised he'd been holding.

"Jeez," Sam commented, exhaling at the same time as his brother. "What's eating him?"

Disturbed by the angel's words, Dean did not reply. He got to his feet, grabbed his jacket and turned his back to his brother. "I'm going for a walk," he said, his mood dark.

"Ok," Sam said, and Dean realised that his brother was biting his tongue. "I'll see you back at the motel?" Sam had questions about hell that Dean did not want to answer, and so even though he knew he was causing Sam to worry, Dean stalked out of the bar as Castiel had done moments earlier.

***

Dean trudged his way along the dark streets, hands in his pockets and his feet scuffing the ground like he was deliberately trying to kick it with every step. Sooner or later, everything had to come back to hell. It was "hell this," and "hell that," and "So, tell me about your time in hell, Dean." As if any of them could understand any of it. As if they'd even want to, once they knew. And if Castiel thought he would be able to hold that threat over his head forever, he had another thing coming. He could find some other douche bag to do his dirty work for him, he was frigging _done_.

He felt a hand come to rest on his shoulder, and suddenly the streets melted away and he was standing in the middle of a park, regardless of the fact that he _knew _this city didn't even have a park. The hand on his shoulder belonged to Castiel, who was now standing beside him.

"Listen man," Dean spat, his anger still fresh in his mind at the angel's earlier words. "If you've brought me here for round two, you can forget it. I'm not a goddamned angel punch bag, and I'm not in the mood. So why don't you just use your holy transporter beam and send me back to my frigging motel!"

Lowering his hand from the human's shoulder, Castiel stepped back and took a seat at one of the conveniently placed park benches. Frowning at the grass at his feet, Castiel let the silence stretch out for a few moments before finally muttering: "I am sorry, Dean."

Slightly taken aback, Dean did not respond to the apology. Castiel sighed, and looked up but straight ahead, careful not to look at the man standing beside him. "I…" he started, but was having trouble finding the words to describe what he needed to say. "When you stopped me from allowing Uriel to destroy that town, I told you that in the past I had some doubts." He looked back up at Dean before continuing. "Regarding my orders, and regarding what was right and wrong."

"Yeah," Dean agreed, but from his tone it seemed that he was refusing to back down. "So what?"

Realising that Dean was not going to make this easy, Castiel looked down again. He leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees, clasped his hands and rested his chin on top of them. "We're not supposed to experience human emotions," he murmured, his voice low as if he didn't really want Dean to hear what he was saying. "We are supposed to follow our orders, and not get involved with the everyday lives of the people on earth. But sometimes, their emotions… I feel them when I pass people by. And sometimes they are strong; too strong to ignore."

Dean's mood finally seemed to soften a little. He bit his lip and nodded an almost imperceptible amount before finally taking a seat next to Castiel. "The girl," he said, the hardness gone from his voice now. "In the bar. You're talking about her, right? You've seen her before?"

Castiel nodded. He lifted his head out of his hands and leaned back, looked up to the sky hoping that Revelation would finally come to him again. Nothing. He was still on his own. "I was... in a hurry. I was trying to help one of the angels from my garrison, and all that was in my head was trying to reach him on time. I must have flown over thousands of people without sparing them a single thought, but when I reached her." He paused, unsure of how to help the human understand. "She was so afraid. Afraid for her life, amongst other things that I – I suppose I pretended not to notice. She was trapped in her house with a man, but _we do not interfere!_ And my brother was _dying_."

He risked a glance at the human's face, and wished that he had not. Dean was looking at him with the same expression he'd used when he found out that the angels were willing to sacrifice 1,214 human souls in order to kill one witch.

"Can you imagine losing your brother, Dean?" Castiel asked. "I mean truly losing him, with no hope of rescue?" Dean's jaw tightened at that, and he looked away. "I had my orders, and I followed them."

"So?" Dean asked, his voice tight with anger again. "Was it worth it? Did you save your precious brother?"

Looking down again, Castiel replied with a voice full of resignation. "No. I was still too late. You cannot imagine it, Dean. How long we have lived, how long we had fought together. When we lose one of our own, it is… I can't explain it."

Dean's head snapped back and he fixed Castiel with a accusing glare. "You think because I'm just a human I can't understand loss?" he growled. "You think that just because you have those damned wings, that you're somehow better than us? More important? Well I got news for you, pal. I don't see any shiny halo on the top of your fricking head. You don't think I lost enough in my life? My mother, and my father, and most everyone I've ever been close to? You don't think that's enough? Well how about the part of myself that I left behind when you dragged me out of the pit! Can you understand **that**?"

Castiel was silent for a moment as he looked back over at the human sitting beside him. "I understand that you have sacrificed more than you ever thought you could, Dean. I don't mean to belittle your loss. But you should know that everything that you are feeling now, I was feeling at that moment. And when I looked to heaven for direction, none came. I was… lost. So I started to retrace my steps to go back to heaven, but I came across the girl again. And her sorrow at that moment was so close to my own, and I could have stopped it. But I did not."

He felt Dean's gaze on his face, but this time Castiel chose not to find out which expression the Winchester was wearing. "I have never felt guilt before, Dean. We don't interfere, and I _know_ that I did the right thing; I followed my orders. So why am I feeling this way?"

"What happened?" Dean asked, his voice softer again. "To the girl?"

"I looked in on her," Castiel replied. "The man was gone, and she was alive. But she wished that she wasn't. He had taken so much from her, and right at that moment, I could not find the strength to believe in God's will. So I… I touched her. I suppose I gave her some warmth from my grace. And I told her that she would find the strength to survive what had happened to her."

"Did she believe you?" Dean asked, and Castiel smiled sadly.

"She didn't hear me. Not consciously anyway. But she stopped crying. And she crawled off the bed and told herself that she was still alive, and that it was a start."

Dean sighed. "Look man," he said, and Castiel found the courage to look the human in the eye once more. "For what it's worth, if I had to choose between Sammy and some girl I didn't know, he'd win hands down. Every time."

"Then why the guilt?" Castiel asked, and Dean snorted.

"You had the choice between two shitty options, Cas. Help the chick and lose your brother, or leave her and try to get to him on time. It went south, and you're feeling bad because of it. Do you honestly think you'd feel any better if you'd gone down the other road, and not even had the chance to try to save the angel?"

Castiel closed his eyes and sighed. "Does it ever go away?"

"Not in my experience," Dean said. "But hey, she's turned out ok. She's the best damned singer in the bar, for one thing."

"She is a distraction," Castiel said. "I have a job to do. I need to be able to let her go."

"Maybe you aren't supposed to let her go," Dean said, as if he was thinking out loud. Castiel looked up at him, confused.

"Maybe you should talk to her," the human went on. "Find out for yourself how she's doing."

"Dean, we don't-"

"_Interfere. _Yeah, Cas, I get it. You need to get over yourself."

Frowning at the human's suggestion, Castiel stood, then placed his hand back on Dean's shoulder and sent him to his motel room, as he had originally requested. He had hoped that his conversation with the man would help him to find direction, but Castiel felt even more lost now than he ever had.

*Author's note: So I know, poor Castiel is suffering. And so is Dean. And Cas still hasn't met the mystery woman, not officially anyway. But I'm having so much fun twisting the knife in Cas's little angel heart (that sounds terrible. I love him really!) Maybe next chapter? Let's wait and see 


	4. Chapter 4

Author's note: Slight spoiler for episode 4.03 "In the Beginning" – spoiler is in the Author's note (here!) and not in the story. Here comes the spoiler: Do you remember at the start of this episode, where Dean woke up to find Castiel sitting on the edge of his bed, and Castiel asked him what he had been dreaming about? Am I the only person who thinks that Castiel knew the answer to his own question?

Second Author's note: I've upped the rating back to an M as this chapter gives a little more detail as to what happened to the girl when Castiel was rushing to save his fellow angel. Nothing really graphic, but it does bring up issues of rape. Consider yourself warned!

She wasn't okay. Best singer in the bar notwithstanding, Castiel knew about the dreams. They didn't come every night anymore like they had in the beginning, but still. Every couple of weeks or so, she would wake up screaming in the middle of the night. He hadn't yet looked in on her dreams to see what was happening for himself, but that was because he was not meant to interfere. It certainly was not because of the guilt; at least, that was what he was telling himself.

Castiel had expected that the dreams would go away on their own, but so far they had not, and he couldn't stand it any longer. He was sitting on the edge of the woman's bed, studying her sleeping face when she made a whimper that he had come to recognise all too well. Leaning forward, he eased his palm onto the woman's cheek, and allowed himself to sink into her dream.

There was a reason why angels were not meant to spy on the humans as they sleep. The dream came in pieces of fragmented memory interspersed with shards of painfully clear emotion. She was woken in the dark to find an unfamiliar body weighing her down, with cruel hands covering her mouth and pinning her wrists above her head. Then suddenly there was the sharp point of a knife; tearing clothing and threatening to tear flesh. Then rough hands, squeezing, pawing and scratching at her body.

Castiel had felt the woman's fear before, but not like this. Not with the scene playing out in front of him, close enough to touch. This time he was close enough to hear the words that the man used to taunt her as he forced his way into her body, and to see the look of pleasure in his eyes as he fed on her pain.

It was a memory, and it could not be changed, no matter how much Castiel wished for it or how much pain it caused. So he did the only thing that he could do to temporarily end the woman's suffering. She woke with a start to a noise which sounded rather like a huge bird taking flight next to her ear, but when she looked around the room, she found that she was alone.

***

She had noticed him staring at her before. Or at least, her friends had noticed, and relayed the information to her in the gossiping fashion which was the humans' way. He could hear them discussing him in tones which he suspected would not be hushed, even to human ears. They had come to the conclusion that he looked 'cute', even though he apparently also looked like an accountant, and they were trying to coax the woman into speaking to him. Apparently she had not told her friends about what had happened to her in the past, and she looked increasingly uneasy as they tried to urge her towards him.

Castiel knew that he had not been entirely obedient in his activities up until this point. But if he carried out the action that he was currently contemplating, he would no longer be able to even pretend that he was still following his orders. Not that he had any orders to complete anyway, since heaven was still strangely silent. But in doing what he was planning, he risked Falling. Regardless of this, he could not continue ignoring this guilt any longer.

To escape the nagging of her friends, the woman had gone to the bar to order a drink. As she rummaged through her purse for change, she spotted Castiel walking towards her out of the corner of her eye. Panicked, she thrust her payment into the hands of the waiting barman and launched herself away from the bar with such haste that she stumbled over her own feet and started falling towards the floor.

Moving a little more swiftly than a human really should, Castiel reached the woman and steadied her on her feet. His hands gripped her waist from behind with enough strength to take her weight, then gentled as soon as she was certain of her footing once more. She stiffened in fright at his touch, turned her body so that she was almost facing him, and then shifted her weight on her feet, preparing to step backwards away from the stranger. However, taken aback, she stared at Castiel's hands as if she were trying to remember something long forgotten.

Castiel did not speak whilst the woman continued to stare at his hands. Eventually, she frowned, as if she had given up trying to place the forgotten moment. As her eyes travelled upwards to meet his own, Castiel noticed that her body was trembling. Suddenly, he realised that he had walked into this situation with no idea what he would actually say to this woman. Hoping that his words would help to calm her down, he said the first thing that came to mind.


End file.
